While you're right that the Barney's website is dogshit, I don't really understand your complaints about the LA store. As has been pointed out -- and seems to be alluded to in Barney's reply to you -- is that what the store chooses to buy and stock is a consequence of detailed market research and experience selling within the area. And simply because there's other stores locally selling the high end products you'd like to see doesn't mean that the products would sell well for Barney's -- maybe the market is already saturated, maybe those stores aren't really financially successful (or as successful as Barney's would like to be). Also, as you yourself point out, you've never had a bad customer experience, it's just that the SAs lack some undefinable abstract (atavistic?) clothing sense that you pine for and see in New York. How can that even be addressed? Maybe it's you, maybe it's the weather, maybe it's that the vibe is different from NYC.

I'm glad to hear that they're working on their obviously terrible website, but you presented your complaint as some sort of last-straw ultimatum, when it was really "I haven't had an outstanding customer service experience in your store, and I'm not totally sold on the brand selection." Is that really a calamity? And is it worth it for Barney's to cater to your needs? You might spend a fair bit, but I doubt you make the $40,000 impulse purchase of an Hermes fur that drives much of their business.

I also doubt that your letter is going to lead to fundamental changes in the way Barney's runs their business. While lots of people are stupid, what is true is that regardless of their response to you, Barney's is a large corporation where changes go through many levels of vetting and approval. But it is nice to see that they reached out personally to talk to you.

What is annoying though is that this whole letter has kind of a 'look at me, look at me!' sense to it. Is it really worth the fuss?

While you're right that the Barney's website is dogshit, I don't really understand your complaints about the LA store. As has been pointed out -- and seems to be alluded to in Barney's reply to you -- is that what the store chooses to buy and stock is a consequence of detailed market research and experience selling within the area. And simply because there's other stores locally selling the high end products you'd like to see doesn't mean that the products would sell well for Barney's -- maybe the market is already saturated, maybe those stores aren't really financially successful (or as successful as Barney's would like to be). Also, as you yourself point out, you've never had a bad customer experience, it's just that the SAs lack some undefinable abstract (atavistic?) clothing sense that you pine for and see in New York. How can that even be addressed? Maybe it's you, maybe it's the weather, maybe it's that the vibe is different from NYC.

Why is it called Barney's New York then instead of Barney's California?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teger

I'm glad to hear that they're working on their obviously terrible website, but you presented your complaint as some sort of last-straw ultimatum, when it was really "I haven't had an outstanding customer service experience in your store, and I'm not totally sold on the brand selection." Is that really a calamity? And is it worth it for Barney's to cater to your needs? You might spend a fair bit, but I doubt you make the $40,000 impulse purchase of an Hermes fur that drives much of their business.

The title of the post was "Why Barney's is Losing Me as a Customer".....not "Why Barney's is losing the woman who makes the $40000 impulse purchase of an Hermes fur as a Customer"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teger

I also doubt that your letter is going to lead to fundamental changes in the way Barney's runs their business. While lots of people are stupid, what is true is that regardless of their response to you, Barney's is a large corporation where changes go through many levels of vetting and approval. But it is nice to see that they reached out personally to talk to you.

Amazon showed that each additional 100 milliseconds of load time for their website cost them 1% of revenue.
If Barneys has an item with no measurements on their website and LN-CC has the same item with measurements....guess who I'm going to buy from. Now multiply that times a 1000 web orders. Small changes can fundamentally affect the way a company does business. So if I made one suggestion they hadn't thought of, I would say it made a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teger

What is annoying though is that this whole letter has kind of a 'look at me, look at me!' sense to it. Is it really worth the fuss?

Why is it called Barney's New York then instead of Barney's California?
The title of the post was "Why Barney's is Losing Me as a Customer".....not "Why Barney's is losing the woman who makes the $40000 impulse purchase of an Hermes fur as a Customer"
Amazon showed that each additional 100 milliseconds of load time for their website cost them 1% of revenue.
If Barneys has an item with no measurements on their website and LN-CC has the same item with measurements....guess who I'm going to buy from. Now multiply that times a 1000 web orders. Small changes can fundamentally affect the way a company does business. So if I made one suggestion they hadn't thought of, I would say it made a difference.
You read it and responded to the thread didnt you?

Some points:

The store is called 'Barney's New York,' not 'The Designer Floor of Barney's New York'. Perhaps your Barney's experience is atypical, as seen in the reply to you in which they pointed out that more people complain about NY than LA? Again, it seems that you had one legitimate complaint - about the website - and a bunch of observations about how this particular store isn't exactly what you wanted. Which begs the question, why should they cater to you?

And I hope you did inspire them to post measurements -- their website is unbelievably bad. But you're probably going to be buying from LN-CC because LN-CC is a store that targets a different audience then Barney's, and therefore stocks different products. The products they select seem more in line with your personal tastes.

Teger you're missing the point: it doesn't matter whether what SQ would like to see is a smart move for the company or not, it matters that to him as an individual (an perhaps, but not necessarily other likeminded people) they're not doing what he expects of them.

Ultimately Barneys is going to do whatever they think is best for the store (obviously), but the point is that he's getting his perspective across. They might decide to implement his suggestions, they might decide against it. At least he's getting his point across.

Teger you're missing the point: it doesn't matter whether what SQ would like to see is a smart move for the company or not, it matters that to him as an individual (an perhaps, but not necessarily other likeminded people) they're not doing what he expects of them.
Ultimately Barneys is going to do whatever they think is best for the store (obviously), but the point is that he's getting his perspective across. They might decide to implement his suggestions, they might decide against it. At least he's getting his point across.

and my point is that he framed in it a specific contest which was much more 'this is a last straw' then 'here's a series of issues I have with barneys' -- although posting it on several forums and on twitter got a response, it also undermines what you're alluding to in your post. it also doesn't help when sq4u is alluding to how much money he spends and that those who don't agree with them clearly have never experienced true designer clothing. I think bragging about your clothing expenditures is always tacky, no matter the context.

overall i think this has been an interesting thread and something that barneys could definitely take away from, and who knows, if there is enough incentive for anyone within the organisation to improve their business then these things that the OP has raised may be given a second thought.

One interesting thing he mentioned was that complaints are usually the opposite of mine; that he gets more complaints about their NY store's SA "mentality" and that people tend to get along really well with the LA staff. I found that pretty puzzling at first but after thinking about it for a bit, I chalked it up to me living on the East Coast for a long time and being used to the NY type of personality.

The one time I was in Barneys NY NY I had pretty good service. SA was helpful and didn't seem to "judge" SF Barneys is pretty bad, finally got an SA I liked two years ago but she left and it went back to sucking. Most of the SAs just think you have no idea what you are saying. Went to presale a Gitman shirt in M, SA says I need a L since the fit would be much better and like the current shirt I am wearing. The current shirt I am wearing is a Gitman shirt you genius. SA then proceeded to tell me I must have gotten a weird sized shirt. I then proceed to put an L on for him, showing him the tent behind my back, and proceed to explain to him that I am actually a M in Gitman.

LA staff has been hit or miss for me, gone by a few times, SAs in general are nice but a bit fake. Scott in denim is great and that's probably cause he kicks it in tshirts and stays by RRL / denim. Shoes at Barneys LA is so shitty though, really kind of sad how bad it is.